James Stewart recorded his second victory of his 250-class career much like he did his first at the Dallas Supercross two weeks ago by leading from start to finish. The factory Kawasaki star nabbed the holeshot in the main and rode off to an uncontested win at Qwest Field in Seattle, where the expected rain stayed away.
Second place went to Amsoil/Chaparral/Napster Honda’s Kevin Windham who hounded Team Makita Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael for much of the race before passing him with two laps left. It was arguably Windham’s most impressive ride of the year.
Rounding out the podium was Carmichael who started the race off in second but had nothing for Stewart on this night. Carmichael ran second for most of the race before giving way to Windham. Despite finishing third, Carmichael did clinch the FIM THQ World Supercross GP title with two rounds to go.
Team Yamaha’s Chad Reed had a bittersweet night. He got punted of the track in the first turn and rounded the first lap in dead-last place. While Stewart cruised in front, and Carmichael and Windham rode around in second and third, respectively, Reed charged up through the field. By the last lap, Reed had caught up to the now third-place Carmichael and the second-place Windham. Had the race been one or two laps longer, the top four results might have been a lot different. As it was, Stewart, who cooled his engines the last half of the race, finished six seconds ahead of Windham, who was closely followed by Carmichael and Reed.
A distant fifth went to Amsoil/Honda’s Mike LaRocco.
With just two rounds left to go, Carmichael, with a 30-point lead over Reed, stands a good chance to clinch the ’05 title at the next round in Houston in two weeks.
In the 125cc West main, which resumed after a six week break, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ivan Tedesco clinched his second straight title with a third-place finish, which means that the Pro Circuit team won both East and West 125cc titles.
Even though Tedesco clinched the title, it was KTM’s Nathan Ramsey who stole a big chunk of the spotlight by putting in a spirited ride to win the thrilling 15-lap main event. Ramsey got out in front early and looked to have things going his way until he crashed in the whoops and handed the lead to Honda’s Andrew Short. Ramsey recovered in fourth and quickly got back into second. He slowly reeled in Short and spent a number of laps trying to get around the Honda rider, casing many of the rutted-out triples along the way. With the 49,000-plus crowd on its feet, he finally got back around Short with a few laps left and went on to take his third win of the series.
A distant third went to Tedesco who rode a smart, conservative race to clinch the championship.
Also putting in an impressive ride was Team Makita Suzuki’s Broc Hepler who came from 19th to finish fourth. Ramsey’s teammate, Jay Marmont, who ran second for a long time, rounded out the top five overall.
125: 1. Nathan Ramsey (KTM); 2. Andrew Short (Hon); 3. Ivan Tedesco (Kaw); 4. Broc Hepler (Suz); 5. Jay Marmont (KTM); 6. Billy Laninovich (Hon); 7. Josh Summey (Hon); 8. Brett Metcalfe (Yam); 9. Ryan Abrigo (Hon); 10. Justin Keeney (Kaw); 11. Paul Carpenter (Kaw); 12. Steve Lamson (Hon); 13. Bryan Johnson (Yam); 14. Eric Nye (Yam); 15. Joshua Woods (Suz); 16. Richie Owens (Suz); 17. Michael Blose (Hon); 18. Jesse Casillas (Hon); 19. Logan Darien (Yam); 20. Jeremy Chaussee (Yam); 21. Chris Gosselaar (Suz); 22. Turbo Reif (Hon).
THQ AMA 125cc WESTERN REGION SUPERCROSS SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 7 of 8 rounds): 1. *Ivan Tedesco (147/2 wins); 2. Nathan Ramsey (116/3); 3. Andrew Short (101); 4. Billy Laninovich (97); 5. Brett Metcalfe (82); 6. Jay Marmont (80); 7. Danny Smith (77); 8. Ryan Sipes (67); 9. Thomas Hahn (65); 10. (TIE) Ryan Morais (53)/ Steve Lamson (53); 12. Christopher Gosselaar (51); 13. (TIE) Broc Hepler (46)/ Josh Woods (46/1); 15. Bryan Johnson (44); 16. (TIE) Tim Weigand (38)/ Jesse Casillas (38); 18. Josh Summey (37); 19. Paul Carpenter (36); 20. Sean Collier (35).
250: 1. James Stewart (Kaw); 2. Kevin Windham (Hon); 3. Ricky Carmichael (Suz); 4. Chad Reed (Yam); 5. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 6. David Vuillemin (Yam); 7. Travis Preston (Hon); 8. Tyler Evans (Suz); 9. Heath Voss (Yam); 10. Tim Ferry (Yam); 11. Jason Thomas (Hon); 12. Damon Huffman (Hon); 13. Justin Buckelew (Hon); 14. Keith R. Johnson (Yam); 15. Kevin Johnson (Yam); 16. Sebastien Tortelli (Suz); 17. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 18. Tommy Hofmaster (Suz); 19. Isaiah Johnson (Yam); 20. Kyle Lewis (Hon).
THQ AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS (After 14 of 16 rounds): 1. Ricky Carmichael (325/7 wins); 2. Chad Reed (295/4 wins); 3. Kevin Windham (246/1 win); 4. Mike LaRocco (229); 5. David Vuillemin (211); 6. Ernesto Fonseca (175); 7. Sebastien Tortelli (169); 8. Heath Voss (134); 9. Tyler Evans (119); 10. Travis Preston (113); 11. James Stewart (104/2 wins); 12. Michael Byrne (103); 13. Damon Huffman (102); 14. Tim Ferry (97); 15. Jason Thomas (80); 16. Nick Wey (73); 17. Jeremy McGrath (61); 18. Joseph Oehlhof (60); 19. Kyle Lewis (51); 20. Ryan Clark (50).
